Classes for kids at Kodagu relief centres

Bengaluru: With several government schools shut in Kodagu due to the recent devastation caused by floods and landslides, the education department is planning to conduct classes for children at the relief centres till they re-open. Textbooks, notebooks, uniforms and bicycles of scores of students were washed away in the recent floods and five school buildings in Madikeri taluk, and a few in Sowarpet and Virajpet taluks were damaged in the rain. The authorities are not sure  when the schools will re-open due to the slush and water around them. With no alternative, they have now decided to take the schools to the relief centres.

“We have identified the students of government schools, who are staying with their parents in all 41 relief centres and plan to start  classes for them. The district administration has asked teachers to be ready to teach students in a separate enclosure at the relief camps in a couple of days," said Mr Water Demello, deputy director, Department of Public Instruction, Kodagu.
He assured there was no dearth of funds for the repair works, which would begin after the situation returned to normal in the district and  the buildings would be thoroughly checked by the school authorities later  to ensure the safety of children.

Mr Demello said a fresh indent had been submitted to the commissioner of public instructions in Bengaluru to immediately dispatch textbooks for classes I to X and donors from Mysuru and Bengaluru had come forward to distribute notebooks to the children. "Uniforms will be distributed afresh to all the affected children once the situation returns to normal. Students from Jodupala, who are in relief centres at Sampaje in Dakshina Kannada, have been allowed to gain admission in government schools there till the situation improves in Kodagu," he added.